Umbrella Cockatoo

Hi All.

I could really use some help. My umbrella is about 3 years old. I have only had the bird for about 4 months. It was with my dad but the bird never got the attention it needed. Now he gets plenty of attention but it has already learnt that amazing scream. It will start as soon as we walk out the house. I think it got a lot of negative attention due to the screaming. I have heard that you should cover the cage when they get like that or that you should just ignore them and then give them a treat for not screaming. I have tried both of these and make sure that he has plenty of toys to keep him busy. Can anyone please give me some advice to stop the screaming and also maybe some one in SA can tell me where I can get some puzzle toys for him.

I probably won't be any help, bc I'm really not sure how to stop the screaming, but I know my too screams when she wants attention or is upset about something.
I talk to her like I would to a child ("whats wrong, etc etc")& she usually calms down. If she won't then I will play with her or give her something different to do right away (like something she might like to chew or play with), again like a child... lol

maybe try to separate her for some time. It will help. But with some time limits.

Good luck, Cockatoos are notorious SCREAMERS. That is why I will not own one. They get very attached to their owners to the point that it can be obssessive. Yes, he probably got positive re-enforcement by screaming with his previous owners.

The best that you can hope for is to try and quiet him down a little, especially when it should be quiet time. But you will never stop the screaming with cockatoo's. It's something you will have to live with unfortunately. I just hope you hve very forgiving neighbors and family members, who doesn't mind a lot of noise during certain times of the day and when you leave the house.

I would continue to do the cover the cage with a sheet thing. That's what I do with my bird when she wants to be a real pistol. She has her own TIME OUT SHEET that I use. But I only cover her scolding her all the while I'm putting her in her cage and covering her up letting her know that this is not acceptable and that is her "OUTSIDE" voice and not her "INSIDE" voice. But I will only leave her covered for about 10 minutes or until she has quieted down. Then I uncover her, bring her out of her cage and give her a treat while praising her the whole time.

Umbrella Cockatoos CAN be taught to be quiet but it takes years of patience and work..
Do NOT reward their screams with attention, its what they want, ATTENTION.
Do NOT scream at them to "shut up" they think you're playing/responding/calling back to them..
DO ignore as much as possible bad behaviour or, better yet, put them back in their cage or otherwise punish them with something they recognise as punishment but never yell or slap, just be calm and purposeful..

You will be in this for the long haul, many years but eventually you will realize the bad behaviour is less and less..

DO have a play time, cuddle time and time for sitting quietly and stroking your Cockatoo.. They love that.. it's also good for YOU..!

For instance, Penny a 12 year old M Umbrella Cockatoo (a rehome bird we have had for about 5+ years) came to us SCREAMING a LOT..
applying what i say above has this bird now doing very little screaming and mostly when he wants his mother (we ignore this and it stops after a few minutes and only happens about one time a week) or is hungry, usually just before feeding and bed time..

Buddy, Male Umrella Cockatoo, 18 years old, screams very very little and usually only when something unusual happens..

Barley Pop, Female Umbrella Cockatoo, 15 years old, screams about the same as Buddy, i.e. very little. She is a real Velcro bird and only wants to love and be loved (by ANYone).. For a long time Barley and Pickles had a thing and Pickles had a dusty white face..

Molly aka LoLo and Smoochy, Male Moluccan Cockatoo (a rehome bird), vary large, about 10, does NOT scream at all. He DOES have a high voice and he asks for attention by saying "Lo, Lo" and a few other words..

Daisey Male Goffin (Rehome abandoned by his mother) age unknown but about 10, makes no noise at all. He does pick all his feathers but he is so easy to care for there is no reason not to let him hang out.

Lorita Female Yellow Nape Amazon, (a rehome about 18 years ago) about 26, talks, sings, whistles at me but makes no annoying noise..

Pepper, Female Eclectus, 18, does some feather picking..
Pickles, Male Eclectus, 11, her much bossed around boyfriend..

Dweedle, Female Blue Front Amazon, relatively quiet, very little trouble, a rehome due to her former mother expecting.. She has been through several homes and was originally owned by a teenager who, as expected, lost interest and gave her to relatives.. No trouble at all and got her name because she sounds like a cell phone..

The point i want to make is that these birds are all just little people with varying needs and bird calls but they all reward me and my wife for the care they require..

also, FWIW, they all get roudybush pellets (http://www.roudybush.com/) i prepare by taking 9 oz of pellets (this IS for 9 birds for the day) and adding 6 to 7 oz of pure water, then nuke it in the microwave, let it settle overnight (i prepare 14 little pots and freeze it so it keeps just fine) so it is crumbly, re-nuke it so its about 110 degrees F and feed it..
they go NUTS and then sit around with full croups and smiles and are all quiet..
I also give them a banana about 3 times a week, the old Amazon (Lorita) demands a seat at the dinner table and gets sourdough french bread, salmon, carrots, squash and anything else she can wrest from my grip. (BUT NEVER NEVER NEVER chocolate or other caffeine containg food, or avocados)..

I keep their water on the other side of the cages so there is very little food dropped in the water and since the food is moist there is no dipping. I keep the water pure by using a drop or two of grapefruitseed extract in each water dish which acts as a citircidal and keeps the water pure for 24 hours.

I give the Cockatoos empty wine cartons to rip, tear, make nests in and otherwise occupy their time. Makes a big mess all those little cardboard bits but i just sweep them up and use them in the bottoms of the cages to absorb the wet.. sort of recycling by bird.. OH! I make sure the wine cartons are clean..

since i am on this subject, if anyone wants to be a serious bird custodian, an emergency medical kit should be part of your tools..
I got one from rainforest clinic (http://www.susanclubb.com/) in loxahatchee, florida, susan clubb, dvm which has some basic emergency stuff like Vetropolycin i used on an eye that had some sort of infection.. one application and it was gone.. saved a trip to UGA vet hospital.. also add Neosporin Pain for small cuts and anyplace one of the bird herd chews.. its is an antibiotic and topical pain relief and works just dandy..
There is VetWrap in the Emergency Kit but i found a place online and bought a bunch of that and elastic bandage for bandaging the big moluccan's leg when he chews a hole in his skin..

gee, I guess i got carried away, here so i'll quit for now except be VERY careful with teflon anything around birds.. and yourself, too, if the teflon burns, the smoke will kill your birds FAST.. KILL them DEAD.. I emphasise this because I have seen this happen to a friends birds when her vacuum cleaner jammed and burned up a teflon belt or bearing..

SO, Happy Trails and keep in mind, having a bird herd has its rewards..
Bill Morrow

edited to add more of the bird herd, clean up typos and added the website links for dr. clubb and roudybush bird food..

Thank you for posting
I am sure the OP and few bird lover here learn specially a newbie like me

morrow said:

Umbrella Cockatoos CAN be taught to be quiet but it takes years of patience and work..
Do NOT reward their screams with attention, its what they want, ATTENTION.
Do NOT scream at them to "shut up" they think you're playing/responding/calling back to them..
DO ignore as much as possible bad behaviour or, better yet, put them back in their cage or otherwise punish them with something they recognise as punishment but never yell or slap, just be calm and purposeful..

You will be in this for the long haul, many years but eventually you will realize the bad behaviour is less and less..

DO have a play time, cuddle time and time for sitting quietly and stroking your Cockatoo.. They love that.. it's also good for YOU..!

For instance, Penny a 12 year old M Umbrella Cockatoo (a rehome bird we have had for about 5+ years) came to us SCREAMING a LOT..
applying what i say above has this bird now doing very little screaming and mostly when he wants his mother (we ignore this and it stops after a few minutes and only happens about one time a week) or is hungry, usually just before feeding and bed time..

Buddy, M Umrella Cockatoo, 18 years old, screams very very little and usually only when something unusual happens..

Barley Pop, F Umbrella Cockatoo, 15 years old, screams about the same as Buddy, i.e. very little. She is a real Velcro bird and only wants to love and be loved (by ANYone).. For a long time Barley and Pickles had a thing and Pickles had a dusty white face..

Molly aka LoLo and Smoochy, M Moluccan Cockatoo (a rehome bird), vary large, about 10, does NOT scream at all. He DOES have a high voice and he asks for attention by saying "Lo, Lo" and a few other words..

Daisey M Goffin (Rehome abandoned by his mother) age unknown but about 10, makes no noise at all. He does pick all his feathers but he is so easy to care for there is no reason not to let him hang out.

Lorita is a Yellow Nape Amazon, (a rehome about 18 years ago) F about 26, talks, sings, whistles at me but makes no annoying noise.

There are more in my bird herd but the point i want to make is that these birds are all just little people with varying needs and bird calls but they all reward me and my wife for the care they require..

also, FWIW, they all get roudybush pellets i prepare by taking 9 oz of pellets and adding 6 to 7 oz of pure water, then nuke it in the microwave, let it settle overnight (i prepare 14 little pots and freeze it so it keeps just fine) so it is crumbly, re-nuke it so its about 110 degrees F and feed it..
they go NUTS and then sit around with full croups and smiles and are all quiet..
I also give them a banana about 3 times a week, the old Amazon (Lorita) demand a seat at the dinner table and gets sourdough french bread, salmon, carrots, squash and anything else she can wrest from my grip. (BUT NEVER NEVER NEVER chocolate or other caffeine containg food, or avocados)

I keep their water on the other side of the cages so there is very lettle food dropped in the water and since the food is moist there is no dipping. I keep the water pure by using a drop or two of grapefruitseed extract in each water dish which acts as a citircidal and keeps the water pure for 24 hours.

I give the Cockatoos empty wine cartons to rip, tear, make nests in and otherwise occupy their time. Makes a big mess all those little cardboard bits but i just sweep them up and use them in the bottoms of the cages to absorb the wet.. sort of recycling by bird.. OH! I make sure the wine cartons are clean..

since i am on this subject, if anyone wants to be a serious bird custodian, an emergency medical kit should be part of your tools..
I got one from, i think, rainforest clinic in loxahatchee, florids, susan clubb, dvm which has some basic emergency stuff like Vetropolycin i used on an eye that had some sort of infection.. one application and it was gone.. saved a trip to UGA vet hospital.. also add Neosporin Pain for small cuts and places one of the bird herd chews.. its is an antibiotic and topical pain relief and works just dandy..
There is VetWrap in the Emergency Kit but i found a place online and bought a bunch of that and elastic bandage for bandaging the big moluccan's leg when he chews a hole in his skin..

gee, I guess i got carried away, here so i'll quit for now except be VERY careful with teflon anything around birds.. and yourself, too, if the teflon burns, the smoke will kill your birds FAST.. KILL them DEAD.. I emphasise this because I have seen this happen to a friends birds when her vacuum cleaner jammed and burned up a teflon belt or bearing..

SO, Happy Trails and keep in mind, having a bird herd has its rewards..
Bill Morrow
unedited, so typos probably abound..
p.s. if anyone wants to know where to get some of the stuff i mentioned above, just ask..

Click to expand...

There's some thing else you can try to help with screaming for attention,if there's someone else around who the bird DOES NOT like, send them in to talk with the bird when he starts screaming,the favorite person needs to keep away ,out of sight.I've had good luck with this when dealing with zons in the same situation.The favorite person should only interact with the bird when he's cool ,calm and collected.When he goes crazy send in the bad guy,i've "cured" zons in a week or so using this method.Granted this will only work if your too doesn't like somebody who is around all the time and willing to help.You've lots of good advice here , hope all works out,good luck .

If you go up to the bird when it screams & talk to it, it will positively reinforce the bird for screaming which will only increase the screaming. Either ignore the bird & stay out of the room totally when the bird screams or cover the bird & then stay away, do not say anything or give any kind of positive reinforcement to the bird until it is quiet.

Hi I have had my umbrella cockatoo 5yrs he screeched all the time at first but not so much now.when he screeches I ignore him and don't make eye contact.

I now tell him no mommy don't like that noise.
and he now stops.
They can be really stubborn.
Bless him I love him so much